Paris Saint-Germain are preparing for one of the biggest challenges of their season as they travel to face Barcelona in the Champions League this week. The French giants, reigning European champions, should be approaching this clash in high spirits, but instead they are battling an injury crisis that has robbed them of several key players at the worst possible time.
The headline absence is undoubtedly Ousmane Dembele, who just last week lifted the Ballon d’Or after a sensational 2024/25 campaign in which he scored 35 goals across competitions. For Dembele, the fixture against Barcelona would have been more than just another European night—it would have been a return to the club where he spent six years, often dazzling with brilliance but equally often held back by inconsistency and injuries. His chance to face his former club, now led by teenage prodigy Lamine Yamal, has been cruelly taken away by a thigh injury sustained while on international duty with France earlier this month.
The subplot is a compelling one. Dembele narrowly edged Yamal to win football’s most prestigious individual award, while the young Spaniard claimed the Kopa Trophy as the world’s best player under 21. Many were eagerly anticipating a symbolic duel between the present and the future of world football. Instead, Dembele remains sidelined and is not expected back for a couple of weeks at least. The winger, however, has reassured fans by saying, “It is going well. I will be back very soon,” after proudly parading his Ballon d’Or trophy in front of the PSG faithful following their 2-0 weekend win over Auxerre.
Dembele is not the only blow to Luis Enrique’s plans. Desire Doue, the electrifying 20-year-old who finished second to Yamal in the Kopa Trophy voting, has been sidelined with a calf injury, also picked up while playing for France earlier this month. Alongside them, PSG captain Marquinhos is struggling with a thigh problem, while Portuguese midfielder Joao Neves is nursing a hamstring strain.
To make matters worse, creative midfielder Vitinha—who finished third in the Ballon d’Or rankings—was forced off before half-time against Auxerre, while Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was substituted at the interval. Although the coaching staff are hopeful those withdrawals were precautionary, the mounting list of injuries leaves Luis Enrique’s squad looking increasingly stretched.
The Spanish coach, himself a former Barcelona player and manager, admitted the situation is far from ideal but urged calm. “We have to stay positive because we need to be able to manage this situation,” he said on Saturday. “Paris Saint-Germain are not the only team with injuries. It is the case for every team with such an intense calendar.”
That calendar has indeed been relentless. PSG played an extraordinary 65 matches in the 2024/25 season, which spanned almost 11 months and included 17 Champions League fixtures as well as a deep run in the Club World Cup. Their season finally concluded in mid-July with a heavy defeat to Chelsea, leaving players with minimal rest before reporting back for preseason.
The physical toll has been immense. Dembele has featured in 99 matches for PSG since joining two years ago, in addition to 20 appearances for France during the same span. Vitinha has played 113 times for PSG since the start of 2023/24, with 21 more caps for Portugal. Perhaps most staggering is the workload of right-back Achraf Hakimi, who has amassed 131 matches for club and country during this period—and he still has the Africa Cup of Nations this season and the World Cup next year.
Luis Enrique faces the delicate task of managing his squad more effectively, but as FIFPro’s secretary general Alex Phillips noted recently, the issue runs deeper than any one club. “We think club owners are beginning to realise that this is bad for business,” he explained, pointing out how overloading the football calendar diminishes both the quality of the game and the wellbeing of its stars.
It is a shame that this highly anticipated Champions League clash between Spain’s champions and Europe’s reigning titleholders is missing one of its main protagonists in Dembele. These are exactly the occasions on which the Ballon d’Or winner should be shining, but instead PSG must dig into their reserves. For all their financial power, the French side’s squad depth is being exposed as less formidable than many assumed.
Still, PSG travel to Barcelona buoyed by recent form. They opened their European campaign with a convincing 4-0 victory over Atalanta a fortnight ago, a result that underlined their potential when at full strength. Even with absentees, they remain dangerous thanks to players like Kylian Mbappe and new signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, provided his knock proves minor.
In terms of qualification, defeat at Barcelona might not be catastrophic. The league-style group phase of this season’s Champions League leaves plenty of time for recovery, and PSG are already well-positioned after their opening win. The greater challenge lies in maintaining momentum and preventing further injuries from undermining their campaign.
For Luis Enrique, the trip to Camp Nou will be more than just a professional duty. It is a return to familiar surroundings, against a club he once managed and where he lifted the Champions League as coach in 2015. Now, he leads PSG into the same arena, aiming to balance a depleted squad while keeping alive their aspirations of another deep European run.
Despite the obstacles, PSG will enter the contest with belief. Their 4-0 triumph over Atalanta showed their attacking firepower remains intact, while their experience on the continental stage provides resilience in the face of adversity. Barcelona will not underestimate them, injuries or not.
What remains certain is that PSG’s ongoing battle with injuries has highlighted the wider problem facing modern football: the saturation of fixtures and the strain on even the fittest of athletes. As the Parisians head into this clash under pressure, the match will serve as both a test of their squad depth and a measure of their character.
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